Pass amendment to protect faith groups' vital services

October 3, 2012|By Stephen L. Precourt | Guest columnist

Throughout our country's history, federal, state and local governments have partnered with nongovernmental groups, including religious organizations, to provide essential community, educational and social services to the needy. Services are often provided at a lower cost to taxpayers and with greater love and care than from governmental agencies.

In some instances, religiously affiliated organizations fill the void and are not only the best, but also the only willing provider serving the needy in our communities. In the past three years alone, the state of Florida contracted with religious organizations for nearly $400 million worth of services to the needy.

These partnerships have always existed within the safeguards of the U.S. Constitution — those that protect religious freedom when used to a secular end. However, these partnerships are vulnerable because of recent legal challenges based on antiquated and anti-religious language in the Florida Constitution. Should Amendment 8 not pass in November, the stage has been set for more legal challenges to successful and in some cases life-sustaining, faith-based activities that many here in Florida take for granted.

Consider the current constitutional challenge to a prison ministries program aimed at keeping convicts from returning to the streets with more criminal intent. This lawsuit was filed by the Council for Secular Humanism, based in Amherst, N.Y. After a favorable appellate court ruling, the organization referred to the matter as a "potential watershed moment" and a "springboard" to other actions, both within and outside Florida. Thus, the threat to faith-based charities in Florida is real.

The antiquated language in the Florida Constitution appeared in the latter part of the 19th century when former U.S. House Speaker James Blaine proposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution aimed at preventing Catholic churches from establishing schools in a system of public education. This was a response to anti-immigration fears and wisely rejected, but many states, including Florida, passed their own "Blaine" amendments.

That provision in Florida survived various iterations of the state constitution. However, we should be past that discriminatory age. The provision is far more prohibitive than the U.S. Constitution as it states: "No revenue of the state or any political subdivision or agency thereof shall ever be taken from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution."

This no-aid clause as it is being applied today could shut down any of the long-standing relationships between government and faith-based providers that are cherished by Floridians — even though they are religiously neutral and do not coerce nonbelievers. The list is long and diverse — again, tallying nearly $400 million in the past three years alone: food pantries for low-income families; housing assistance programs; foster-care agencies; substance-abuse programs; pre-natal and pregnancy care centers; prison ministries; and religious-affiliated universities and hospitals.

We must protect nonprofit, faith-based organizations and individuals from this blatant discrimination. It is wrong to be excluded from business simply because some are called by their faith to provide services for the common good of all Floridians through a faith-based organization.

We urge Floridians to vote "yes" on Amendment 8. Florida has achieved a complex balance of church and state; don't let the courts change it. We need Amendment 8 to preserve a healthy balance and not allow good and trusted providers to be kept out of the public square.

Stephen L. Precourt of Orlando is a three-term Republican state representative and a leader in Citizens for Religious Freedom & Non-Discrimination, a group formed to advocate for Amendment 8.